


More than meets the eye

by Pearlislove



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Hugs, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-02-27 23:04:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13258473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlislove/pseuds/Pearlislove
Summary: In which Peri learns several lessons about how not everything is the way it appears, and how not everything is simple black and white.Especially not when The Doctor and his old friends are involved.





	1. The return of The Rani

**Author's Note:**

> After watching 'The Mark of The Rani', I began toying with the idea of The Rani having an allergy/condition of some sort, as she pretended to in order to trick Peri when she was guarding her and The Master. Somehow, that headcanon became this fanfic.

"Doctor, where are we going?" Peri called out, exasperated as she attempted to catch up with the quickly running Doctor already several meters ahead of her.   
  
"To check out why this reader marks an alien presence in a time far before Earth's official treaty about interstellar travel with the Shadow Proclamation!" The Doctor called out, temporarily pausing to let his companion catch up. "Do hurry up Peri, I told you not to wear heels while we’re put in the woods."   
  
"No, I chose not to, because last time it made that much harder to run from all the evil aliens that attacked us! I am not even wearing any heels, Doctor." Peri sigh, completely exasperated and more than a little done with the annoying man beside her. "Do we really have to do this?"   
  
"What else would we do, Peri?" The Doctor asked, deliberately choosing to act as though there was no other choice but to go ahead, because that was what he wanted. “We can’t just ignore it and go to a sunny beach somewhere!”   
  
"But last time you were waving that thing around you ended up almost dying, twice! And, and there was two Villains. What if they are back? They will hardly let you defeat them the same way again."  She hated sounding like a whiny baby who had not already survived The Master and The Rani once, but it was hard not to worry when they were so clearly a threat to both the Doctor’s and her own existence.    
  
The Doctor chose to ignore Peri's continued complaints, however, waving around with his tracker in front of her face and frowning disapprovingly. “We need to follow the signal, Peri!” Of course, he knew she had a point, but  when had that ever bothered him? Besides, if Rani was really out and about again, then there was nothing else to do but to stop them. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't just ignore such things.   
  
With a flourish, The Doctor turned around and plowed ahead through the uneven terrain, no longer caring whether Peri was even close by as the trace his remote was tracking soon grew stronger. Before long, he noticed they were leading him down in between several large stone blocks that had been moved into place at the end of the last ice age. Nestled at the bottom of the downhill slope, almost entirely hidden from view, was a deep, dark cave opening.   
  
"Is this where the trace is coming from Doctor?" Peri asked, seeing the cave opening the Doctor was currently studying. She grabbed on to her - admittedly barely even ankle long - skirts, hauling them up as far as she dared to for the sake of decency, before carefully sliding down the sloping hill to the cave opening, buried deep in between the rock faces.   
  
The Doctor turned towards Peri, seemingly intent on saying something in reply, but before he had the chance to, a pair of hands came shooting out of the darkness, grabbing on to his neck and pulling him out of sight as he screamed in surprise and fear. "PERI!"   
  
"DOCTOR!" Peri can feel her heart beating out of her chest, panic entirely over-taking her mind as she ran ahead, skirts and shoes and whatever else became ripped and dirtied as she moved be damned. Soon enough, she was sideways gliding into the cave opening, stopping momentarily as she lost the momentum, before rapidly continuing her stampage ahead.   
  
It was dark, almost impossible to see inside the cave, and it scared her. Anything may come, and though she knew she could not stop Peri deliberately slowed down her pace.   
  
"Doctor?" She called, quiet in case whoever had pulled down The Doctor might hear her too.

 

The non existent response had Peri’s heart dropping into her guts, making her feel both worried and discouraged as she realized that The Doctor was most likely strapped down and tied up somewhere deep underground, some alien or another using him as they wished.   
  
At the end of the tunnel Peri walked through, a small light appeared. It was faint and far away, but as Peri walked towards it, it rapidly became stronger. A string of electrical lights had been mounted to the wall, and as she followed them, she soon cave into a large cave, hidden deep underground. The hole scenario reminded her of an old fairytale, and she didn’t know whether it was a comfort or a further reason for concern.   
  
The cave in itself was big and well-lit, hundreds of flickering electrical lights strung up on the uneven stone surface and emitting a soft yellow glow. At first, it felt like a comfort. Bright lights and an ability to see the entire room without worrying about dark corners and treacherous hiding places, had a calming effect on Peri’s nerves. She'd already started to relax, sitting down on half a tree trunk disposed in the middle of the floor, when something caught her eye. Next to the log, a small electrical heat source had been put together, and next to it, a small nest of blankets and pillows was gathered on the cold rock face. Clearly, someone had been preparing to live there.   
  
Suddenly on edge once more, Peri could feel her heart beating faster as the discovery registered in her mind, her brain working hard to make the connections. 

 

Someone, had been making a home for themselves in the cave. Someone, had also kidnapped The Doctor.

 

Standing up, Peri scanned the cave once more, looking for something she had not noticed last time she looked. This time, she took note of a large part of the rock sticking out from the wall on the left side, and decided to give it a closer look.

 

Once there, it was clear to see that there was an opening into an adjoining cave. Moving closer it, Peri could hear voices coming from it. Listening in on the ongoing conversation, Peri immediately recognised one of the voices as the Doctor’s, and the other one clearly belonged to a woman.

 

“Idiot! Release me now!” The Doctor boomed, the sound of metal against metal and The Doctor’s groaning accompanying the statement. Clearly, he was trying and failing to escape on his own.   
  


“Oh, why would I do that? It was your fault for coming looking for me!” The woman laughed a barking laughter that sent chills down Peri’s spine. “Try again, Doctor, after I’ve…” Before she could finish her statement, the woman was interrupted,  a violent coughing fit taking over hand. Using the distraction to her advantage, Peri carefully edged closer to the opening, risking a quick peek into the other cave while the kidnaper was unlikely to notice.

 

The adjoining cave was much smaller than the main one, filled to the brim with scientific equipment who's like Peri had never seen before. It was baffling, but she had more pressing reasons for looking into the cave than to being impressed by science equipment. Scanning the room, she couldn’t see the woman that had kidnapped The Doctor, for she was doubled over and still coughing up her intestines. Behind her, however, was The Doctor, strapped to a chair and apparently quite calm. Peri, on the other hand, felt terrified to see her partner strapped down in a chair  and unable to escape if needed be. Seeing such things was not a new experience by any means, but it still had her equally horrified every time it happened, making her heart migrate into her throat as she figured out how to free him.

 

“Are you alright, my dear Rani?” The Doctor asked, his voice less booming and demanding as he regarded The Rani with obvious concern. 

 

Hearring what he said, Peri pulled back, pushing herself back against the wall and trying to keep herself in controle. Her brain was already switching into full panic mode once more as she realized why their foe was, and it took every ounce of willpower that she had not to scream out in desperation.   
  
Biting her lip, trying  to will away the few terrified tears and not scream, Peri forced herself to come back to it, focusing on the still ongoing conversation between her partner and his friend/enemy.

 

Whatever The Rani had said in response to The Doctor’s concerned question on her health, it had obviously not pleased him. When he spoke next he was angry, his concern and kind worry all but gone as he commented instead. “You know, there was always a reason they thought you wouldn't survive as a renegade…” He was smug, a smirk that Peri couldn’t see accompanying his words.

 

“Stop it, Doctor!” The Rani interrupted him, loud and angry as can be, but Peri didn’t miss the fearful tremor in her voice. The Rani was upset, and while it had her at a disadvantage, it was also a disadvantage to The Doctor, who was putting himself in danger by angering her.

 

“Of course, they didn’t take into account that you are a brilliant chemist. Synthesising your own medication, truly astonishing. Hard, though. And not as good as the real stuff, I’d guess. Tell me, how well has your medication been working lately? Are you trying to fix the formula?” The Doctor continued, almost mocking The Rani, though Peri could tell there was more to it. The Doctor wanted to get somewhere with his questioning.

 

The Rani was most likely intending to respond, but it seemed another, less violent coughing fit took over hand, and as she started coughing and grunting once more, Peri decided to take her chances.

 

Running into the room with an unnecessary but confidence-inducing scream, Peri took use of the confusion it caused and body slammed straight into the small, wiry frame of The Rani. Putting all her strength into the attack, she threw The Rani against the cave wall, watching her bounce back and crash down upon her chemistry equipment.

 

Powders and fluids in all the colours of the rainbow blended together as the containers broke underneath The Rani’s battered body, a colourful smoke rising from the ashes of the destroyed experiment. As the smoke began spreading, Peri jumped into action once more, this time aiming for The Doctor. 

 

“Peri!” Fighting against the restraints with renewed vigor, The Doctor called out for her, anxious and quickly leaving the chair as he was finally freed by his partner and able to move once more.

 

“Come on Doctor, we need to go!” Peri grabbed onto The Doctor’s arm, trying and failing to pull him away as he set off in a different direction from her own. The smoke was already growing thick around them, and though it seemed to have no poisonous effect, she didn’t dare staying longer than necessary. 

 

But The Doctor was fighting back, resisting her attempts to pull him towards the cave opening, and being physically bigger and stronger than Peri could ever hope to be, he was slowly winning.

 

“We need to help The Rani!” Finally, The Doctor pushed away Peri, sending her down butt first on the ground as she failed to regain her balance. Before she knew it, The Doctor had disappeared, and she was alone.

 

“Doctor come back!” She knew that it was useless, but Peri simply couldn’t keep quiet as she struggled to her feet. “Doctor!” She peered into the smoke, ice cold dread filling her as she finally realized she could not stay, the small cave already all but uninhabitable and forcing her out into the larger cave, all alone and barely aware of her own actions.


	2. Chapter 2

Running was something Peri was used to, but she was not used to doing it alone. It scared her, and as she ran she tried to outrun her frightened thoughts, too.

 

When Peri finally heard another pair of footsteps come running behind her, relief flooded her system, and she almost collapsed on the spot as everything she’d been pushing back came flooding back into her brain. One look over her shoulder, however, showed that The Doctor was not slowing down. The Rani rested in his arms, her limp, unconscious body so far from the terrifying scientist Peri knew that she almost doubted it was the same person. 

 

“Hurry Peri! We need to get to The TARDIS now!” The Doctor screamed, soon speeding up and running ahead of her. His urgent sprint motivating Peri to run even faster, feets tripping and slipping on mud and tree roots, but giving her no time to stop as the urgency of the situation took overhand. First as they finally arrived to the TARDIS did she notice how much the mad run had taken from them. Especially The Doctor appeared to have been worn out by the running. When he’d ordered them to run from the cave, he’d been strong and determined, but now he was buckling under the pressure of the situation and the physical strain from carrying another person such long distances.

 

“Unlock the TARDIS, Peri. We need to get her inside.” Still, it seemed as though none of his thoughts were of his own condition, all his focus still focused upon The Rani. Already down on his knees, Peri saw from the corner of her eye how he checked her vital sign while he waited for his partner to unlock the box.

 

“Doctor, is she going to be okay?” Holding up the door, Peri watched as The Doctor scooped up The Rani in his arms again, stumbling slightly but managing to keep his balance as he carried The Rani inside with slow but determined steps. He was tired, exhausted even, but doesn't even think to give himself time to recuperate as his focus went to his friend turned enemy.

 

Peri sigh. Seeing state of the woman - pale faced and with lips that were slowly starting to gain an unhealthy bluish purple tone, it was clear that she needed medically attention now rather than later, but she still wished they had time to care for The Doctor as well.

 

“Not unless we get her to the medbay she won’t, and we’re running out of time. She isn’t getting any oxygen, and unless we manage to fix that, it will not be long before it becomes damaging. Don’t you know what it does to a human?” The Doctor snapped, already crossing the control room and heading into the corridors. His eyes spoke of terror, and his forehead shone with sweat as he kept on going.

 

“You mean she’s suffocating?!” Peri exclaimed, terrified as she followed The Doctor into the room closest at hand. As usual, the TARDIS had adjusted the order of the rooms in the corridor to have the room closest  to the consome be the most needed one, an oddity Peri had never been more thankful for.

 

“What else do you do without oxygen?” The Doctor asked, quickly putting The Rani down upon one of the beds and starting to fiddle with the machine standing beside it. “Peri! Open the green cabinet and get the bottle of Purple fluid with yellow spots.” He checked The Rani’s pulse manually and seemed to worried by what he discovered. “Now!” 

 

Peri didn’t dare to waste a second. The Doctor was fully occupied setting up all manner of equipment around The Rani, acting in panicked frenzy as he tried to get situation under control. Wishing to help, Peri ran across the room, hesitating only a second in front of the closed doors of the cabin before tore into it with vigour, pulling out all manner of unknown equipment and letting it all fall to the floor as she looked for the requested medication. It was easier said than done, though, as she didn’t find anything. “It’s not here!” Peri yelled, panicking building inside her as crouched on a floor sorting through everything she had already thrown out in fear of having missed the vital medication. 

 

“Peri! Purple fluid, yellow spots, now!” The Doctor’s voice was even more urgent than before, and it seemed as though he wasn’t even listening to Peri, completely ignoring her in favour of the Time Lady on the bed. Realizing that it was all dependant on her finding the medication, Peri kept fumbling around among the piles of items, before her hand finally closed around a small bottle. Barely daring to look at it, she almost screamed of delight when she saw that it was what she’d been looking for.

 

“Here it is Doctor!” Handing it over to him, she watched as he grabbed it and, wasting no time by thanking her or otherwise respond to her presence, poured it into a syrigine he already had prepared. His hands were shaking, and some spilled on the table, but Peri didn’t comment on it. Instead, she simply put a hand on his arm in solent comfort. She wanted to support him and help him to the best of her ability, but it was hard when he persistently ignored her. Shaking off the comforting hand touching his arm, The Doctor continued onwards, dedicated and unwavering.

 

Once the syrigine was filled, The Doctor seemed a little kinder. Urgently, he directed Peri over to The Rani’s bed, asking her to hold down the Time Lady and stating it a preemptive measure in case the medication would cause a spasm or seizure.

 

“Why would it cause seizures?” She asked carefully, holding on tight to The Rani’s body nonetheless. She trusted The Doctor, always, but she needed to ask to learn.

 

“Because medicating a Time Lord is an extremely dangerous task and should, preferably, not be done at all.” The Doctor pushed the needle deep into the The Rani’s neck, emptying the medication into her system as Peri held onto the suddenly not so lifeless body, surprised to actually feel it bucking underneath her as the medication did it’s work. 

 

“Hold her down!” The Doctor commanded, seeing the situation and quickly coming to help Peri hold down the spasming body. As the two of them pushed down upon her body, The Rani soon started relaxing again, sinking back into the mattress.

 

And then, it was like magic. Standing behind the bed, Peri could have sworn she saw how it happened with her own eyes. She saw The Rani taking her first shaky, shallow breath, letting their air entering her oxygen deprived systems. The slowly rising and lowering of her breast, confirming that she was breathing once more.

 

Feeling like she just watched magic being made, Peri slowly let go, backing away as The Doctor took over. Though Peri felt relaxed now that their patient was breathing again, The Doctor didn’t seem to be relaxing in the slightest. Moving impossibly quick, in the matter of minutes The Doctor had given The Rani a second injection, put on an oxygen mask, hung up an IV to drip and checked both her hearts twice. Last but not least, he brought forth some kind of machine  closely resembling the heart monitors like those Peri was used to from back on Earth.

 

As he picked up two of the four cables that were supposed to be attached, however, he seemed to encounter a problem. Turning to Peri, she could see that The Doctor’s cheeks were flaming red and he was blushing furiously. “Peri, I’ll need you to attach this electrodes to...to The Rani’s chest” It seemed to cause The Doctor physical discomfort just to say the words, and Peri felt her own horror settling in as she realised what he wanted her to do.

 

“Can’t you do it? She’s your friend!” Peri asked, appalled at the thought of attaching the electrodes to The Rani’s naked breast.

 

“I am not fondling The Rani!” The Doctor exclaimed, horrified. “You're a woman as well, you do it! I’ll need to check her throat and chest later, anyway.”

 

“Oh, for the love of...fine!” Tearing the electrodes from The Doctors hand, Peri pryde open the shirt buttons on The Rani’s  top. “Where do I put them? I at least need to know what I’m doing.”  _ At least Time Lady’s have two breasts like humans _ , Peri thought bitterly.

 

The Doctor coughed awkwardly. “One under and one above each breast. Gallifreyans have multiple hearts and they are big. Can you tell me if she got an rashes on her chest?” He asked, having retracted a plastic chair in a corner of the room. He’d pulled a smaller apparatus into his hands, typing away on it as Peri proceed with her work.

 

Pulling open the top more properly, Peri could see that The Rani did indeed have angry red marks on her skin. They looked decidedly itchy and more than a little uncomfortable, their flaming red colour a clear indication something was not as it should be. “There’s red marks here. Like rashes, those some people get when they have an allergic reaction.” Carefully, Peri attached the first two electrodes, before quickly moving on the next two. Finishing, she pulled up the grey blanket at the end of the bed to cover the exposed flesh. “There, all done. Now, can you tell me what’s wrong with her?” Peri glanced over at The Doctor, who seemed to have finished with the machine he’d been calibrating.

 

Instead, he simply sat there, braiding his fingers together and separating them again over and over again. Obviously,The Doctor was agitated, concerned and restless. It worried Peri to see him like that, and most of all she wanted comfort him, though she didn’t know how or if he’d accept it this time.

 

“Hey...it’s okay. She’s fine now, isn’t she? All good and breathing again.” Peri tried to smile, putting a soft hand on The Doctor’s shoulder as some kind of support, but not daring to get closer for fear of rejection.

 

“She is breathing, but for how long? How long before something happens again? If i had been slower, if the TARDIS hadn’t held a stock of medication...even if I give away all medication I have, for how long will it keep her alive? The Time Lords won’t care if she run out. She is still exiled from Gallifrey!” Peri could see the panic rising inside The Doctor. Each word brought him to closer and closer to a complete breakdown as he spoke faster and faster, his voice growing desperate. 

 

“Doctor calm down! Please! She is  _ fine _ .” Peri didn’t understand half of what The Doctor was saying. All she knew, was that The Doctor was spewing out a doomsday prophecy about a woman who was breathing into an oxygen mask with increasing ease, her steady double heart beats repeated by the heart monitor standing beside her. “The Rani is all good, and she’ll be attacking us as soon as she wake up I am sure! It’ll be just like nothing ever happened.”

 

The Doctor looked up, his eyes big and frightened. “I don’t think so! Do you even know what happened, Peri?” He raised his voice, the fear converting into something much more violent. He seemed angry, almost offended, acting as though Peri was being outright rude.

 

“No Doctor, I don’t! I don’t know, because you won’t tell me!” Peri looked at The Doctor, pleading, wishing with all her might that he would stop acting so damn stupid. He was such a clever man, and yet as he spoke to Peri it appeared as though he’d lost it completely. “Please Doctor, just tell me! I want to understand, I really do, but it’s impossible if you won’t  _ tell me _ !” Peri begged her own desperate as The Doctor kept quiet. She needed to know, needed to understand exactly what had happened. She couldn’t move around around blindly in the dark, guessing facts and trying to comfort her partner without knowing what upset him, it was unsustainable.

 

If The Doctor didn’t start communicating, Peri was sure it wouldn’t be long before it broke the both of them.

 

Watching Peri intently, something almost like understanding seemed to dawn upon The Doctor. Still, for the longest while he remained silently, studying the wall instead as Peri’s desperate gaze kept staring at him from behind.

 

Finally The Doctor spoke. His voice was low, but Peri heard every word clearly. “I don’t know much, to be honest. I never...learnt to deal with it. Not specifically. But it happened when we were kids” He paused, glancing back at Peri, and she could see he had tears in his eyes, just waiting to fall down his cheeks. “It wasn’t like she’d ever been particularly  _ strong _ , she was always tiny...but one day, she collapsed. In the hallway, on our way to lunch. Suddenly, she was just not standing anymore. I had to run and get a teacher while The Master made sure she kept breathing.” 

 

“What caused it?” Peri’s voice was softer, now, adapting accordingly as The Doctor told her of what happened when they were children. Suddenly, a lot of things made a lot more sense.

 

“She was taken away and locked up in a hospital for a long time. Examined and tested, all that. Eventually she came back. They said it was her respiratory system. It’s overly sensitive, and the slightest irritation builds up to cause problem over time. Direct exposure means an instant and severe attack. You just saw it happen.” He waves his hand towards the still unconscious Time Lady, and Peri finds herself wondering when she'll wake up, and what will happen then. “To add on, her respiratory bypass doesn’t work. It’s supposed to protect us from things that are toxic or harmful entering our respiratory system, but she lack the reflex that activates it, so she’s completely exposed. Not a good combination.”

 

Peri looked at The Doctor. His head had moved back into his hands and she could tell how defeated and sad he was. How much worried about The Rani, somehow knowing that no matter what he did he couldn’t be good enough, because he  _ fix it _ . 

 

“There are medication that help. Protect her. When she kidnapped me in the cave…” The Doctor smiled. “She’d been making her own, all this time. Perfectly protective and perfectly suited to her needs. So very clever.” 

 

Peri swallowed. “But now she’s run out. It’s not working. It...it doesn’t properly help her...allergy anymore. I heard you telling her that in the cave.” Peri shrugged, looking a little sheepish. It had been in everyone's best interest that she secretly listened in on them. 

 

“Yes. I think she was trying to fix the formula...” The Doctor looks up, obviously a bit surprised that Peri had heard them talking. “Why don’t you go to bed Peri? The Rani won’t wake up in a long time, I gave her a sedative with the medication.”

 

“You sure Doctor? I could stay here if you want. I can go get some food for us and we can talk.” Peri suggested, hoping The Doctor would accept. It was quite obvious there was a lot going on in his big brain that he would not tell her, and she hoped she could convince him to share some of it.

 

The Doctor gave her a tired look, and shook his head. “No thank you Peri. If, if you could just leave.” He glances back against the bed,and Peri understands. The Doctor needed some time alone with the enemy and his own thoughts.

 

It was not anything she could ever hope to understand, but she accepts it. Leaning forward, she gives The Doctor a kiss. “Alright. I love you.”

 

The Doctor watch as Peri walks away, regret churning in his stomach. He didn't want to send away Peri, but neither he could he have her stay. Burrowing his head in his hands. 

"What have you done _Ushas_?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Implied Suicidal idealism, talk of death
> 
> We're diving into the deep end, now, but I can promodr a happy ending!

**Chapter 3**

 

The Doctor sat by The Rani’s side, holding one of her hands between his own fists. Her long, carefully painted fingernails glitter in the flourescent lights of the medbay. Studying them, The Doctor could see every Star in the constellation of kasterborous mapped out on her hand, beautiful and glowing like the real night sky. And there, on her middle finger, painted bigger and brighter than any other star on all her five fingers, was Gallifrey.

 

It surprised The Doctor that The Rani had bothered to map out such an elaborate constellation on her nails, and he certainly had not thought for her to chose her home constellation. Why not Miasma Goria, where she was the supreme leader?

 

“Whatever am I to do with you, Ushas?” The Doctor whispered fondly, lifting a hand to stroke The Rani’s pale cheek. Despite filling her with medication, fluids and nutrients, she still looked like death, and had not even as much as stirred. Not that she oughta, all things considered. Not with the heavy sleep medication he had fed her previously. In fact, if she woke up already it would clearly demonstrate that she had a much quicker metabolism than The Doctor had anticipated 

 

The Doctor sigh deeply. It had been a dangerous decision for him to feed her the medications he had, entirely without any idea whether or not she would have a normal reaction to it. He had seen Peri’s fear as he directed her for what to do if The Rani had a seizure, and he’d  _ known  _ that the medication should be measured out specifically for the individual he was caring for. But she had been pale, her lips a shade of bluish purple that told him how close she was to dying already and there was no time to waste.

 

He had had to take a guess and hoped a standardised measurement would be enough. He had been worried, still was, and knew he wouldn’t settle until he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Rani was safe.

 

Another sigh. The Doctor could hardly believe what was happening. The hole situation had spun out of control so fast, he hadn’t even had the time to think of what to do when it was back in his controle.

 

“Theta?” The voice was weak and thready, but unmistakable. The Doctor looked up, seeing The Rani’s half-lidded eyes slowly opening, reflexively closing again against the harsh lights. Her hand went up to her mouth, fumbling to remove the oxygen mask. “What in the bloody universe am I doing on your ratty TARDIS?” The Doctor wasn’t even surprised she recognised the TARDIS at first glance. She was smart, almost too smart, and even the tiniest clue could solve the hole problem for The Rani. “I hope you didn’t leave my TARDIS behind. They don’t make them the way they used to anymore.”  

 

“It’s where you left it. “ The Doctor said carefully, realising with a starke that he hadn’t even considered the fact that The Rani’s TARDIS oughta be nearby. The situation had gone from zero to one hundred in the matter of minutes, and he had been occupied since. “We have not left planet yet, so you can get back to it when you wish, I am certain.” The Doctor reassured her.

 

The Rani smirked. “What, do you not want to take off with me onboard?” She asked, laughing a little. The laughter, however quickly turned into a coughing fit and The Doctor found himself helping her to sit up, holding on to her so she wouldn’t fall back as she continued to cough.

 

“You almost died, Ushas, so I’d say there’s been other things on my mind than leaving this planet.” The Doctor bite back, unconsciously squeezing her hand and holding her just a little closer as she struggled to catch her breath in between coughing fits. “Also, speaking of that you almost died, I’d appreciate of you tried not to over-do it until respiratory system has had a chance to recuperate in the safe, steril TARDIS medical bay.” Ignoring The Rani’s feeble attempt to keep it away from her, The Doctor slipped the oxygen mask back in place, clearing up her breathing somewhat.

 

As the coughing finally stopped, Rani slumped against The Doctor, resting her head on his chest. “you drugged me.” She whispered. Not as question, but as a fact.

 

The Doctor nodded. “I didn’t exactly drug you. I gave you medication that forced open your airways. You would have died otherwise.” The memory of The Rani’s pale face and bluish purple lips flashed before his eyes, and he shuddered. 

 

“And the sleep drug?” The Rani asked, and The Doctor stiffened. 

 

“You needed rest.” He said carefully. “I figured you weren’t going to be getting much of it while awake, so I put you asleep. Apparently, it did not work as well as intended.” The Doctor couldn’t help but add the last part. He’d promised Peri she’d be knocked out for hours, but here she was, wide awake after barely twenty minutes.

 

“Metabolism. Didn’t take the Time Lord stuff, my stomach swallowed it up pretty quickly.” The Rani smiles cheekily.

 

“I don’t have much of the good stuff left. Used it up.” The Doctor replied, trying to be vague as he attempted not to think of the nightmares that had haunted him throughout much of his last regeneration. He didn’t think he’d ever forgive himself for  what happened to Adric. “You’ll still have to rest though.” The Doctor attempted to move The Rani from his chest, but she let out a low groan and clung on.

 

“You can't even drug me up properly. What kind of Doctor are you? Doctors loooove to drug their patients.” The Rani’s smile went from malicious to loopy, and The Doctor wondered if the sleep medication might have kicked into second gear, or if Rani was having some kind of highly personalized reaction. The later seemed more likely, all things considered. 

 

“I think I have drugged you up perfectly good, thank you.” The Doctor replied, stroking The Rani’s hair. Leaned against him like this, she reminded him of the little girl the Time Lords had turned their back to all those years ago.

 

The little girl he’d called his friend.

 

“Maybe they’re right.” The Rani whispered suddenly, tears rising in her eyes as she attempted to wrap her arms around The Doctor’s waist and cuddle him. “Maybe it’d have been better if I had died like the Time Lords intended”

 

“What?! No, no, no!” Horrified, The Doctor held on tighter to The Rani. He didn’t know what was happening to her, if it was the medication or something else, but he knew he didn’t like it. “The Time Lords can be cruel, and banishing you truly was, but they are not murders. They wished for you to be  _ gone _ , not dead.” He hold onto her, as tight as he can, his eyes on her arms she did not do anything rash.

 

“Then why did they not let me bring medication, Doctor? I had to leave without anything, even though they  _ knew  _ that I  needed it.” She sobbed, a low, whimpering noise tearing out of her throat as she buried her head against his chest. 

 

Disturbed, The Doctor began stroking her hair again, and thought back to when he’d held The Master like this in his third incarnation. The situations were shockingly similar, yet completely different anyway. “Because you don’t get to bring anything off Gallifrey when you are exiled. I didn't, nor did The Master.”

 

“You brought your granddaughter.” Rani replied angrily, still somehow managing to snuggle The Doctor angrily.

 

“I left before I was forced to. My sentence was decided, and I slipped off before the punishment could be implemented. The fact that Susan came along was entirely separate to The Time Lords and their punishment.”

 

“Susan” The Rani whispered. “Arkityor. Larn. Arkityor, a word unique to old High Gallifreyan, with the meaning of Rose, referring to the specific flower unique to Earth.  It was quickly found redundant as Gallifrey ended their earlier involvement in human development, and was phased out of modern Gallifreyan language as a result. However, it remains a semi-popular birth name among Time Ladies in certain families,  the leading families of the Prydonians especially.” The Rani recited the hole speech without a hitch, her eyes dull and long gone as she spoke. By now, The Doctor was almost certain something had turned wrong with the medication, and he opted to do some tests as soon as she’d gone asleep.

 

“Yes, that is true.” The Doctor agreed, treading carefully as he was acutely aware of how vulnerable The Rani was at that moment. “How about you try to rest, Usha? You need it.” Carefully he transferred her back onto the bed, somehow managing to detach the limbs that had wrapped themselves around his body. This time, she didn’t protest, simply sigh deeply.

 

“I would have died if you hadn’t appeared on that planet. I...I can’t make my own medication any more, my home made formula doesn’t  _ work _ . And without official medication to analyze, I won’t survive.” Leaning back against the pillows, The Rani spoke, and The Doctor was shocked at the honesty and raw emotion in her speech. Slowly, she turned her face to The Doctor once more. Her cheeks were wet with tears. “I feel lost, Doctor. I can’t decide if it is meant for me to survive or not. I’m so weak, too weak, and yet I fight. But is there a point?”

 

Sighing, The Doctor tried to figure out what to say. Her eyes were begging him for an answer and her clenched fists showed her distress. Gently, he took to stroking her hair, knowing it might be the only thing that was sure to calm her down. “Go to sleep” He ordered. “The medication is obviously causing an emotional imbalance, and you are stressing for nothing” Pulling up the blanket over her, he smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be staying here for the night. If anything happens, I’m here. But for now I just need you to rest.” He smiled, his hand moving down to cup her cheek as she looked at him. In his mind, he noted that her pupils looked dilated, supporting his thought that she’d gotten a bit high on the medication.

 

“Alright. Good night.” Turning on her side with her back to The Doctor, The Rani closed her eyes and The Doctor sigh.

 

He already had a plan for the tests to conduct and the samples to take while she slept, but as he sat back down on his chair, he suddenly realized exactly how deep his own exhaustion was. Even if he wanted to, he would not be able to leave the chair until he’d had a nice long nap at the very least. Taking advantage of the situation, The Doctor let his eyes fall shut, too.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The Rani walked through the corridors, occasionally stopping to adjust the blanket tied around her chest, trying to make it look less like a blanket and more like an actual top, as her own shirt had gone missing somehow.

 

Pretending to be asleep had been easy, faking being high even easier still.

 

The Rani stumbled slightly , the hole corridor swaying before her eyes. She hadn’t been  _ entirely  _ faking the medications influence over her, just slightly. It was like she was  _ all  _ gone in the head.

 

Nonetheless, The Rani, quickly opened the door close at hand, hoping there might be a chair inside that she could sit down on. Though she hated to give The Doctor credit, she could feel her chest starting to constrict once more, and knew she need to sit down and relax before she had another attack.

 

“The Rani?” Standing before The Rani in the small Kitchen room she had just walked into, was The Doctor’s companion. With dripping wet hair and dressed in a pink bathrobe that wasn’t tied tightly enough to disguise her ample bosom poking out underneath it, she starred furiously at The Rani. “What are you doing here?!”

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comment please!

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos & Comments please! ❤


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